Diabetes mellitus patients require the administration of varying amounts of insulin throughout the day in order to control their blood glucose levels. In recent years, ambulatory insulin infusion pumps have emerged as a superior alternative to multiple daily injections of insulin. These pumps, which deliver insulin subcutaneously at a continuous basal rate as well as in bolus volumes, were developed in order to free patients of the need to repeatedly self-administer injections and allow them to maintain a near-normal routine. Furthermore, continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin produces better insulin pharmacokinetics than multiple daily injections, resulting in better regulation of blood glucose levels.
There are several ambulatory insulin infusion devices currently in the market. These devices are reusable since they are provided with a refillable reservoir for insulin. These reusable devices represent a significant improvement over multiple daily injections, but they suffer from several drawbacks: they are expensive, bulky, fragile and difficult to program and fill the reservoir.
The prior art mentions multiple attempts to devise insulin diffusion systems fitted with disposable programmable dispensers for personal use by a patient. Such systems are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,740,059, 6,749,587, 6,960,192, and in U.S. Published Patent Applications No. 20050203461, 20050021005, 20040204673.
Nevertheless, despite these many attempts there still exists an acute need for a new and improved system, which employs a disposable programmable dispenser for the continuous infusion of insulin or of other therapeutic fluids.